October 11, 2005
A World Record Shattered
The world's record for 'Punkin Chucking was shattered last Saturday by team TreBarBaric. Our local Skagit Valley Herald:Pitching PumpkinsA description of the people attending by a member of another team:
TreBarbaric team smashes world record for second year in a row Like a barbarian at the gates, Wes Frank, leader of team TreBarbaric, stood in his blue-gray kilt and silver hard hat and gave the order.
"Mount up," Frank said.
Three members of TreBarbaric climbed astride their trusty steeds — sorrel stick ponies — and took a lap around "The Machine."
Standing 58 1/2 feet tall, The Machine is a trebuchet, a siege engine similar to a catapult. But TreBarbaric’s trebuchet flings pumpkins, rather than stones.
On Saturday, TreBarbaric’s seven men, who hail from their castles in Lyman and Sedro-Woolley, were just one pumpkin pitch away from their mission: Take back the world record.
After their stick pony sally, the men got down to the serious business of pitching pumpkins. After the words "fire in the hole" and the warning blast of a handheld air siren, Frank pulled the pin holding his wooden war engine in check.
With a whoosh of wind and whorl of wood, The Machine flung a white pumpkin high above the grass field of Skagit River Park in southeast Burlington.
For a moment, the burly men of TreBarbaric watched as the pumpkin flew across the sky. It smashed down, almost out of sight behind a truck and near foliage at the north end of the park. The men waited as the crew of volunteers measured their fifth and final toss.
"They are way up by the trees," one of them said.
The announcement — 1,676 feet — was almost drowned out by their victory shouts.
"That’s 300 feet better, baby," yelled Scott Wakeman of TreBarbaric.
Last year the team’s throw of 1,269 feet held the world record for 13 days. Then the mark was broken at the world championship pumpkin chucking contest in Delaware when Yankee Siege flung a gourd 1,399 feet. This time, TreBarbaric smashed the record by 277 feet.
About 5,000 people, who likely saw TreBarbaric’s final toss, attended Saturday’s Burlington Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Pitch, said Christi Kinney, city parks and recreation coordinator.
"We have a nice cross between engineers and rednecks," said Kevin Orcutt, a member of team Gourdinator.
Photos by Frank Varga / Skagit Valley Herald
From left) Steve Kramer, Brandon Krauch, Scott Wakeman and Trevor Blue of TreBarbaric with The Machine in the background celebrate their world record-breaking pumpkin pitch Saturday. The seven-member team who live in various communities in eastern Skagit County smashed the former record by 277 feet, setting 1,676 feet as the mark to beat. TreBarbaric held the record last year for 13 days.
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